Merry Christmas . . .

i figured i would throw up a picture of us . . . one where i’m not in my fishing garb . . .
Anyway . . . Melissa’s easier to look at than I am, so here ya go friends . . .

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE !!

One of Those Days . . . Amazing!

My friend Cliff and I had a great day on the water today.
Lots of fish. We went straight home and had a fish fry!

27in Redfish

28in Redfish

at the boat launch we weighed in 50lbs of fish!

(5) Redfish, (5) Trout, (1) Black Drum . . . that’s a bunch
of Fish . . . Good Times!

Big and Small

Went fishing yesterday with my friends Shaune and John . . . Shaune caught the BIGGEST and smallest fish of the day.

23 in Redfish

5 or 6 in Trout

Change Anyone ?

 The past few months have been a whirlwind, adventurous to say the least. Here are some thoughts born out of this: 

There are few things in life that are certain or predictable, but one thing that is certain is CHANGE!  And not the kind that makes noise in your pocket (I hate that kind too).

With so much change going on around me I find myself learning a great lesson, a lesson on where to put my hope, what to base my decisions on, and where to invest my time, my emotions and my life. What I’ve learned to do in times I don’t understand is to rely on the things that DO NOT CHANGE. These are the things that do not change for me: I have a wife that’s crazy about me (which I’m still trying to figure out), I have a family that loves and supports me, and most of all I serve a God that I can know personally and who holds the universe in his hands. I don’t know about you, but that’s a pretty good deal . . .

Even with all of this though, in my efforts to please those around me or be seen as the “guy that’s got it together”, I end up making decisions based on things that might or might not be there when I wake up tomorrow. Things like my location, my income, other people’s perception of me, and friends. I’m not saying these are not important, because they are vital . . . especially solid friendships. I just don’t think these things should be the ultimate things that control my decisions or view of myself or situation. To give complete control over to these things would mean to loose a bit of emotional freedom. And I like freedom. Life is too short to spend it in a self-made prison.

In all of this rambling, my conclusion is this:
These are the things I will cling to

1. God’s Word and His mission to rescue a dying world
2. My Wife who will never stop amazing me
3. My Family who in many ways has taught me everything I know
4. The Church; its’ faces will change, but its’ mission will not
5. My Friends; they too will come and go, but their impact (good and bad) will stay with me

Everything else is negotiable . . .

Is This A Sport?

I ate lunch with Melissa today at one of my favorite spots, Wings-and-More, and our entire section was consumed by what was on the TV . . . something called Sport Stacking.

You might ask “what is that?” . . . Apparently the new sport on ESPN is a bunch of kids and teenagers stacking plastic cups . . . seriously. Being my curious self, I looked it up. Check out this video on ESPN’s website: http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/video/videopage?videoId=2954792

They have an association too . . . WSSA . . . World Sport Stacking Association: http://www.worldsportstackingassociation.org/

. . . goodbye underwater basket weaving . . . Hello Sport Stacking

The Object of My Perfection

     There’s a lot of talk now about excellence in performing and production. And the Bible is clear that excellence is important. The last thing we need is someone using ”it’s for God” as an excuse to be less talented or lower quality.  If God has gifted you to do something, I’m pretty sure you will be good at it in the world’s eyes. This is more about shifting the way that we look at excellence or perfection.

     I am fully convinced that God is not looking for perfection, He is simply asking for submission. It is only when we submit all of who we are, and all that we can do to God, that He will take our small attempts and make them excellent. Then, out of our obedience to Christ, we have no other option than to strive for excellence.

     So many times I use all of my energy trying to do whatever it is I do, hoping that it will please God in some way. But it would be much easier if I would allow God to be the source of what I do rather than just the object of it.

     God is not simply the object of my perfection or excellence; He is also the source of it. I think this idea makes Him much larger . . .

LOUDER!: a hearing test

Those that know me know, I like things loud when it comes to music . . . I like to “feel” the drums not just hear them (I’m sure I’m pretty deaf by now, so all you hearing safety people . . . I know . . . ). But there is another thought that’s been on my mind about “volume” . . .

I was part of a worship service a while back that was one of the greatest times ever . . . people were singing loud, the band was forgetting about the performance, all voices in the room were singing at the top of their lungs . . . it was truly an awe inspiring moment.

But in the middle of all of the great chaos something was telling me . . .  “louder”, and that word just kept coming to my mind for days after that . . . my spirit kept hearing “your worship needs to be louder”

            I’m not talking about the volume of what comes out of our mouth or our instruments . . . what is the volume of what’s coming out of our hearts? . . . our lives? . . . as amazing as times of group worship are, if we go back home and choose to remain “silent” what’s the point . . . we can blow the roof off of the place in singing, but if the world never hears us, we’ve failed . . .

            A lot of times we rely on our weekend worship experience to “energize” us for the coming week, and that’s necessary . . . but how much more exciting would it be if we . . . as worship leaders, band members, church goers . . . would allow our corporate times of worship to be an overflow of what we’ve been living and saying all week?

Just a thought: If our greatest act of worship is what we play, sing or preach on the weekend, then we might have just fallen short . . . it’s the life we live as a whole that is the greatest act of service to God . . . it’s not about the performance or the presentation. . . it’s about our hearts preparation and approach . . .

            This is not really a new great thought or anything, it’s just one that is worth saying every once in a while to remind us there is a world out there that might not ever hear the volume of our “worship service”. The only music they will ever hear is what’s coming out of our lives . . . and based on that we are all “musicians” in Gods “orchestra”. . . let’s all make sure that our lives and hearts are the loudest thing the world hears . . . not just our songs and sermons . . .

beginners luck!

this is one of our students (brian) with his first ever redfish (24in)

check out my friend cliff . . . nothing like seeing someone catch thier first big redfish . . .
it’s almost as fun to watch as it is to catch it myself

Not so quiet afer all . . .

well, i’m starting this blog thing . . . we’ll see how it goes. I’m usually the quiet one, but my mind is never quiet. So i figured i should give my mind a place to unload and “throw up” basically . . . so here’s me . . . right, wrong or indifferent . . . hope you enjoy it . . . or at least scratch your head with me . . . and as far as fishing . . . well, i just need to brag occasionally . . .